


Diction

by babesrgrs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:53:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26441518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babesrgrs/pseuds/babesrgrs
Summary: Steve's mouth gets him into trouble. It's not always the bad kind of trouble.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 38
Kudos: 215





	Diction

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know. I had an idea for what I thought was a 2000 max words, but then three days later... This is set in some arrested universe between TWS and AOU.

“Steve. Steve. Steve. Steve.”

He wasn’t sure but it seemed somebody had something to say to him. Steve kept his eyes closed. After all the years he’d been involuntarily sober due to the serum he was damned if he let somebody disrupt the warm buzz that was welcoming him into sweet, numb unconsciousness. Thank God for the Asgardians.

“Steve.”

No. He’d been social and friendly in the hours leading up to this slightly dizzy yet comfortable existence. He’d done his part. He had earned this. Maybe he should have gone to his own room but most of his team members and other guests had already passed out in various locations around the Stark Tower common areas. So when sitting on the balcony floor, he’d started to feel his eyes droop he’d gladly given in. The early August air was warm even so high up and so late – or early? – and he felt so heavy but so nice just there, melting into the balcony carpet, one with the floor and the whole damn ugly building.

“Steve.”

“No,” he said. Slurred. Whatever. 

“This is important. We are having a poll.”

“No.”

Clint didn’t seem to understand. Steve made a mental note to have that harassment training for the Avengers the SHIELD HR had been pestering him about. His earlier reluctance hadn’t been because Steve didn’t think it an important cause but because the Avengers worked better as a group of friends than as a group of colleagues with normal workplace rules. But if harassment training would have prevented Clint from interrupting his slow sink into la-la land, it was worth the try.

“Just one answer and I’ll leave you alone. Out of all the Avengers and connected personnel, who would you want to do the most? You’re leading the poll, by the way.”

No. Why was he punished like this?

“Come on, I only need one name. I’ll make it easy for you: Nat, Hill, Cho, Pepper, Jane – “

Steve hated to give in but every second Clint was around he was losing that perfect drowsiness. Quickly, he said: “Tony.”

“I don’t know if you understood but it’s not limited to just Avengers and even so I’m sure Nat doesn’t mind if you choose her.”

Steve started to feel alert and that made him panic a bit. He wanted this. He needed this. Goddamn Clint.

“Tony!” He spat out again and turned his back to Clint. If he didn’t believe him, that was his problem.

“Al-right. Okay. Tony it is.”

Relieved, Steve heard Clint back off. Finally.

Steve didn’t exactly forget anything about the night, but he’d dismissed the memory of Clint’s interrogation as unnecessary to retain. 

He would have been quite sure that everybody else had forgotten about Clint’s weird research if he and Tony wouldn’t have happened to be taken as prisoners a week later and put into the same cell.

Steve knew cut one head and two will take its place was Hydra’s motto, but sometimes he couldn’t understand how the hell did the organization manage time after time survive in the shadows. Was it the corrupt nature of humanity itself or was it some sort of divine balance that required snakes and rats to persist as long as there was somebody who would stand up to them?

At least they hadn’t thrown them into a dungeon. 

“I hate competent enemies,” Tony grumbled. 

“Not that competent,” Steve noted. “Or they would have killed us instead of most likely trying to coerce you into designing them weapons and using me as a test subject.”

Tony sat down on the lonely cot. “Don’t give them any ideas.”

There wasn’t enough room for two on the cot so Steve lowered himself to the ground. Why they had let them stay together, he’d didn’t understand. Maybe, he hoped, there were rookies in charge of this Hydra group.

Whether they’d been left together on accident or on purpose, it was a given that they were probably spied upon. Steve knew it and Tony knew it and they both knew not to talk about the whereabouts of the rest of their team.

Most likely they were on their trail already, which was why Steve didn’t feel an urgent need to try to break out of the cell. He probably couldn’t do it anyway, the door had an electric charge on it and it seemed too thick to kick down. Trusting the rest of the Avengers he thought it better to save his strength until they had to run.

After ten or so minutes of silence, Steve was acutely reminded that for all his at times never-ending jawing, Tony didn’t care for small talk.

Neither did Steve, really.

“So. You were pretty drunk at the party.”

That was a non-sequitur if anything was, Steve thought. Maybe Tony was uncomfortable with the quiet, after all.

Steve shrugged. “Maybe a bit.”

“Hmm.”

Weird. Steve gave Tony a glance and if Steve wasn’t mistaken, he looked like something was pressing on his mind.

“How so?” Steve asked.

“Nothing. Saw you pass out on the balcony. Not a good look for a symbol of high morals.”

Steve chuckled. “I suppose.”

Tony crossed his arms. “Clint seemed to make a nuisance out of himself.”

Steve frowned. Was Tony going to go through everybody’s performance during the soiree? What did Clint have to – _oh_.

Shit.

“Yeah?” He asked, as if he didn’t know what the matter was.

“Yeah. Asked around people’s crushes or exceptions in the team. I understand he had a bet with Thor. As if he could compete with a god,” Tony said.

“So Thor won?” Steve ventured, hoping Tony didn’t have the guts to go through with the topic.

“Shared first place. With you. I’m sure you’d have lost to him too if it wasn’t for Coulson.”

Steve doubted Coulson had voted for him, but let Tony’s joke pass. “I guess blond and athletic’s _en vogue_.”

“Yeah, an acquired taste, I’m sure.”

A silence. Steve wondered if this had been it. He took another glance at Tony to see him looking back at him. Steve raised his eyebrow. “You have something on your mind?”

“You tell me,” Tony fired back.

Steve sighed. “I don’t know if this is the time or the place,” he said and gestured around the cell, reminding Tony that the walls had ears.

“So it’s true?” Tony went on, anyway.

Alright. “Yes,” Steve said. He wasn’t ashamed and he wasn’t pursuing Tony, but he did get that it was a bit unexpected.

“Really?”

“Why would I lie?” Steve asked.

Tony shifted in his place. “That’s just really difficult to see. Or understand.”

“What can I say? I don’t have a preference for athletic blonds,” Steve said dryly.

“Yeah, that’s the weird part,” Tony muttered sarcastically. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve asked, feeling himself mentally gearing up for a confrontation.

“You know what,” Tony said.

“I don’t,” Steve said and he wasn’t lying as he didn’t know for sure was Tony more concerned that it was him Steve had named or that he liked men. Probably the former, he thought, knowing what he knew about the upper-class moralities in the 2010s.

“Listen,” Steve said when Tony seemed to have the sense not to go into detail about the issue at hand. “I’ll very gladly pretend I never said anything. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Tony seemingly acquiesced, though Steve had the feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time he heard about it. Tony had a habit of bringing up uncomfortable matters at unfortunate times, often to just crack a joke.

It took maybe a couple of hours in silence before a loud crackling alerted them. Above them, the plaster of the ceiling started to crumble until a clear neat hole was created. Natasha was crouched at the edge of the hole, peering down at them.

“Hope you had a nice stay,” she remarked.

“Had better ones,” Tony said. “And worse.”

“Can you jump up?” She asked.

The room height was about nine or ten feet. “I can,” Steve said.

“You didn’t bring a spare suit?” Tony asked. 

“No time to go by home,” Natasha answered. “But don’t worry. Steve can throw you.”

Based on the look on Tony’s face, that wasn’t what he hoped to hear.

Steve cringed mentally. He hoped this was just a temporary phase for Tony: he didn’t think Tony was just opposed to the indignity of being thrown but also to the thrower.

Steve stepped directly underneath the hole. “Come on, Tony, I’ll give you a boost,” he said, crouched and made a hold with his hands to give Tony a leg up.

Tony looked decidedly unimpressed at this but knew better than to waste time. He stepped on Steve’s grip and put his hands on Steve’s shoulders. 

“You ready?” Steve asked and looked up. Tony met his eyes briefly. 

“Watch my head, will you?” He said. 

When Steve was sure Tony would hit it just right, he lifted him up in a quick motion and pushed upwards so that Tony was basically standing on his extended hands for few seconds there before Natasha got a good grip and helped him climb to the upper floor.

Steve waited for a moment before he jumped so that he got a grip on the edge of the hole. As he started to pull himself up, the ceiling edge broke down underneath his other hand. He lost his balance momentarily and wondered if he was going to fall but someone gripped his arm and started to pull him up.

Tony wasn’t the strongest guy but he definitely had a good pair of arms on him and it took next to no time to make the climb.

Having made the landing, more of the ceiling started to break down and Tony stepped back to give him room to get away from the edge. He tripped and with a grip still on Steve’s arm and Steve having a momentum going on they fell down together, Steve landing on top of him, face to face.

Tony groaned as air left him.

“You okay?” Steve asked as he first got on his knees above Tony and then all the way up.

“Just peachy,” Tony answered, still short of breath. Steve helped him up and they turned to follow Natasha, who had watched their clumsy acrobatics bemusedly. 

“Just around the corner,” she guided. They made quick work getting through what seemed a little-used storage area: it had obviously been easier to break into than straight to the prison level without getting noticed.

“Clint,” Natasha spoke to her comm unit, “we’re coming, twenty seconds.”

“He’s got the Quinjet?” Tony asked.

“Yes,” Natasha answered. “Staying covered in a stealth mode up in the air, he’ll come down to pick us up.”

Natasha led them to an outer wall of the complex where she had cut a hole through the wall before. 

“Careful, going out there’s a bit of a drop to a lower roof,” she warned them. 

“Great,” Tony mumbled. Steve prepared mentally to carry Tony if need be. They had to be quick now, their escape was likely already noticed.

Sound of running carried to his ears. “They’re coming,” he told Natasha and Tony.

Natasha nodded and went first. Steve watched her drop and roll-land to the lower roof and estimated it was about ten feet or so, not too bad but could result in a broken ankle for Tony if he landed wrong.

He was about to go first and be there to catch Tony, but a gun was fired just then. He and Tony both crouched reflexively. 

The hole was wide enough they could fit both at the same time. He didn’t think any further but grabbed Tony by his side and lifted him off the ground and over his shoulder. Tony exclaimed in protest but Steve jumped down without further ado: he took the impact with his feet but couldn’t quite keep his balance and turned around to fall on his behind so he wouldn’t accidentally slam down Tony first. 

Having relaxed his hold, Tony, most likely disoriented by the fall, climbed off him clumsily, almost kneeing Steve to his face.

At the same time that their jailers got to the hole in the wall, Clint landed about a hundred feet from them. Natasha started running backwards with her pistols raised to give them cover fire.

Steve let Tony run in front of him to shield him from the bullets. _He_ would likely survive getting shot.

They all made it in mostly uninjured, though Steve had felt a bullet graze his flank. They were a good distance away from the Hydra base when Tony said something about it.

“You hurt?” He asked pointing at the blood on his shirt from where he was sitting on the crew bench. Natasha had joined Clint in the cockpit. Thor and Bruce were in New York, alerted, but not part of the pick-up crew.

Steve shrugged. “It’s just a flesh wound.”

Tony looked at him with a considering frown as he usually did when he wasn’t sure if Steve was actually was quoting pop culture or not.

“There’s a portable cradle here somewhere,” Tony remarked.

Steve sighed. He knew he had no room to shirk from medical attention himself if he wanted his teammates to follow the same protocol. “You’ll operate it?” He asked. Protocol maintained that you shouldn’t treat your own wounds if at all possible and anyway, he’d been hit too up in his side for him to reach it comfortably.

Tony got up and went to the medical cabinet.

Steve undressed meanwhile, stripping off both his shirts.

Soon Tony was next to him with the cradle and an antiseptic spray and clean tissues.

“Sit down and lean over,” Tony told him.

Steve did. Unintentionally, he hissed when Tony sprayed the wound to clean it. The cool liquid made him break out in goosebumps.

“Sorry,” Tony murmured.

“Just. Cold.”

“You didn’t even blink when they shot you in the first place,” Tony pointed out.

Steve snorted. “I blinked. I was behind you, you didn’t see. I might have even grimaced.”

“You know, for such an uncomplicated, conventional soldier you can be goddamn confusing at times,” Tony said.

Steve assumed this wasn’t about his habits of showing distress.

“Tony –” he started but found he didn’t know what exactly to say.

Tony started to regenerate the broken flesh tissue with the cradle. He put his other hand on Steve’s shoulder to keep him still. His fingers pressed against the crook of his neck. Steve swallowed. This wasn’t really an optimal time to talk about this.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d gladly not mention it. It’s not – a thing.”

“A thing?”

“Yeah. It was a poll with parameters. Who out of all of you, if you had to choose… It doesn’t mean anything more.”

“Right. You’d have saved yourself raised eyebrows had you chosen something less controversial.”

Steve winced. “So, it’s public knowledge?”

“Well. All who were still awake at 5 am heard Clint moan about nobody having any taste. And ‘Cap being surprisingly gay and mooning over Stark’.”

“I’m not _mooning_ – “

“I got you. We can drop it if you want.”

“Thanks.”

A silence. Tony finished with the cradle and went to put it away. Steve stood up and tried to decide whether the new skin felt tender or not. Feeling slightly unsettled he stretched his arms up high, extending his body as much as he could, and then he bent down to touch the floor with his hands, stretching his back and legs. Slowly uncurling from his position he breathed deeply and felt a bit better.

Glancing to his side he noticed Tony watch him. He seemed to have something on his mind, still.

Great. 

Steve waited, stretching his sides as well before finding a clean t-shirt to put on.

“I’m not into men,” Tony said suddenly. “You know that, right?”

Steve turned to look at Tony, slightly exasperated. “Well, I didn’t know but I didn’t assume either way. Alright? It’s not my business.”

“Alright. Just for you to know.”

“Ok. Thanks.”

Tony nodded. “No problem.”

That was it, it seemed.

Steve hoped.

Thinking about it later Steve wondered if he hadn’t screwed up a bit. It was a clearly 1940s strategy to pretend he’d never said anything at all and seeing how Tony had acted weird for several days after their brief kidnapping he started to think maybe he should have tried to have a real conversation about it instead of vague promises that there was nothing there.

On the other hand, it felt unjust that this should be such an issue when everybody else could choose whoever and nobody cared: but because it was him and he’d picked a man that was noteworthy.

Case in point: Tony didn’t seem to be in knots over all the other people who’d voted for him.

Although to be completely fair, it didn’t look like the others cared that much except for some slight ribbing.

So it was mostly Tony. Or maybe it wasn’t even Tony, maybe Steve was projecting: he wasn’t sure if he knew anymore what was normal behavior from Tony and what wasn’t. Maybe he’d always watched Steve guardedly and maybe he’d always sat up a bit straighter every time Steve walked into a room he was in.

A bit like now: from slouching over a project to straightening up and putting on a decidedly nonchalant face.

“I didn’t mean to disturb,” Steve started.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t doing anything important.”

Steve chuckled. “I thought nothing you did wasn’t important,” he teased.

“Right,” Tony said and crossed his arms over his chest. “Sometimes I talk a lot of shit.”

Frowning, Steve decided not to comment on that. Instead, he went on with his business: “I got a report from Fury about SHIELD mission to the Hydra base we visited last week. Cleaning it up they found the electromagnetic field generator tech they used to disarm you. They offered to give you a look at the SHIELD premises.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Can’t they just send it here?”

Steve shrugged. “They’re probably afraid you’d sabotage it before giving it back. Or that they wouldn’t get it back.”

Tony scoffed. “I can easily sabotage it at SHIELD premises. And what are they going to do with it, anyway?”

“Just in case you go rogue,” Steve suggested. “Not that it’ll help them much after you make new adjustments. But at least it’s somewhere to start with the anti-Iron Man gadgetry.”

“Lovely working with a secret government organization,” Tony said sarcastically.

“I’m sure half the blood they take to develop better pain medication for me or whatever is to develop better sedatives to knock me out if needed.”

“True,” Tony agreed.

“I’ve learned to never expect organizations like SHIELD give power or potential power away voluntarily.”

Tony nodded. “Want me to spy on them? I can hack them, especially if I go in. I’ve done it before.”

Steve pondered that for a second. “Not now, I don’t think. Not for this. I’m pretty sure I’m right and it doesn’t really matter that they don’t trust us: that’s in their DNA. They’re right not to trust us, anyway. Our interests aren’t always SHIELD’s interests.”

“Alright,” Tony said. “But just so you know, them having your blood: that’s not okay. It’s yours, not government property. I think it’s enough reason to go through their research if you want.”

Steve was tempted but thought it was better to play nice with them at the moment. Hydra had been scourged out of the organization and it didn’t seem like an immediate problem. He shook his head. “Not now, but thanks.”

Tony stood up and looked at Steve consideringly. “Wanna go to SHIELD? We can grab burgers on the way back.”

Steve blinked but agreed quickly. It was very uncharacteristic of Tony and Steve didn’t want to wait for him to change his mind. Not that Steve thought escorting Tony was going to be too interesting for him, but the offer in itself was.

“Half an hour, meet me in the garage.”

Steve was impressed by how quickly Tony had cleaned up: he was wearing a suit, his hair was styled and Steve could smell the whiff of cologne mixed with the clean smell of a recent shower. 

“The Bugatti?” Tony asked.

“Sure,” Steve answered. “But can I drive?”

Tony stopped in his tracks to the driver’s side of the dark blue fancy sports car and turned to give Steve an incredulous look. “I didn’t know you could drive.”

“Well,” Steve said. “I can.”

“What’s the last car you drove?”

“A jeep.”

“Don’t tell me, a 1944 Ford GPW,” Tony said dryly.

Steve grinned. “A 1943, actually.”

“I can’t believe this. The last time you’ve driven was during the war,” Tony said. “And now you want to drive a Bugatti Veyron.”

“It’s got pedals and a steering wheel,” Steve pointed out. He didn’t really care that much who drove, but it was amusing to him to rile Tony up.

Tony sighed theatrically but acquiesced. “Alright. You drive. It’s got pedals and a steering wheel, nothing’s changed in 70 years.”

Tony took his seat on the co-drivers side. He waited until Steve was on his side before fastening his seat belt needlessly pointedly. Steve gave him a wide smile. “So, how does this start?”

They got to their destination in one piece and in relatively good time. This, despite getting briefly stuck in the midtown traffic and especially despite Tony giving a running commentary about Steve’s driving, complaining first about too slow then too fast, then worrying about the paint job, and then, on the freeway when Steve definitely broke more than one rule speeding, calling Steve crazy. He had been grinning, though.

“You planned this, didn’t you?” Tony asked when they were let in through the vehicular gate to the SHIELD facilities.

“Hmm?” Steve asked, driving to the underground parking hall.

“Waiting to get a car that’s not in your name so you can get caught by the speed cameras. Nobody’s going to believe if I try to tell that it wasn’t _me_ who was driving, it was Captain America.”

Steve pulled in smoothly to a parking slot and stopped the car. “Maybe,” he said. Getting out of the car he continued: “You can afford it.”

Tony gave him a look over his glasses. “Am I being taken advantage of?” Then, to a guard that approached them to escort them in: “Help, Captain America is taking advantage of me.”

“Excuse me, sir?” The guard asked, confused.

Tony grinned. “Captain America,” he said sounding very pleased, “is using me for my money.”

“Uh,” the guard said.

Steve rolled his eyes. “That’s a lie. Iron Man is merely trying to sully my good name.”

“Don’t believe him,” Tony pressed on when they were let in the lower level elevator. “If you’d only see what goes on behind the Tower walls, you’d be shocked.”

“Sure,” Steve said. “But that’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Uh, Fury’s waiting for you in his office.”

An hour or so later, after Steve had gone through current matters with Fury he went to pick Tony up from the lab.

“You ready?” He asked, nodded at the technician in the room aside Tony: probably there to watch him.

“Yeah, I’m done here,” Tony answered. He’d left his suit jacket on the back of a chair and rolled his sleeves up his forearms. The sunglasses were hanging from his breast pocket. He’d obviously combed his hand through his hair more than once, giving an air of light dishevelment.

Steve liked it. He averted his eyes trying not to give his thoughts away. 

“Captain Rogers,” the tech started. “I, ah, I’m sorry but would you mind if I –” he said and held out a phone.

Steve had lived long enough in the future to recognize a request for a selfie. He smiled, “sure.”

The man came to stand next to him and began to look for the right angle. Steve shared an amused look with Tony. 

“Actually, ah, Mr. Stark?” The tech offered the phone to Tony.

Steve couldn’t quite control the grin splitting his face.

“A techie preferring brawn over brains, no wonder SHIELD’s in such disarray,” Tony muttered but took the picture.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark. My grandfather was in the 45th Infantry division. You crossed paths outside Strasbourg,” he addressed the last part to Steve.

“He’s still alive?”

“No, sir. Passed away ten years ago. But I know he would have wanted to thank you.”

Steve shook the man’s hand and asked for his name. After a short chat, he saw Tony had his jacket back on and was waiting for him at the door. He said his goodbyes and left with Tony.

Tony kept his mouth shut until they were back in the car. “You’ve got a lot of fans.”

“Sure, a few. To most, I’m a story told by their grandparents. Or parents,” Steve said. He alluded to Howard on purpose but he was well prepared not to talk about him, Tony rarely wanted to.

Tony just made a non-committal sound. Then: “I’m sure you could have asked him out, had you wanted. I mean maybe you’re not too much into the fannish type but he let it slip he’d broken up with his boyfriend.”

It was good they were not moving, waiting to be let out of the SHIELD compound, so Steve could turn to give Tony a long and incredulous look without fear of crashing.

“I can’t believe you,” he said, finally.

“What?” Tony asked as if he didn’t know. “He was alright. I think. Not that I’m an expert in that, but from the small sample I’ve gathered, spending time in the workshop isn’t a deterrent for you.”

“I hope you didn’t plan this or I swear to God, Tony,” Steve said, mostly exasperated but also slightly annoyed.

“What? No, I didn’t. I just thought I’d inform you about his inclinations after I found out. A public service,” Tony defended himself.

Steve breathed deeply. “Alright. For future reference, I don’t need help finding someone. It was bad enough when Natasha tried to act as a matchmaker. I’ll retire if you start, as well.”

Tony agreed to let it go. They drove in silence for a good ten minutes or so, but this latest turn in conversation still echoed in Steve’s mind. What had Tony been thinking? That he has to find Steve somebody so he’d what, forget about Tony? He wanted to express that it really wasn’t a big deal, but somehow doubling down on it didn’t feel like it would get the point across.

And also, Martin, the techie? _What had Tony been thinking?_ Not that Steve was that old himself, but the guy couldn’t have been over 25 and he still had that youthful, gangly kind of look about him. 

Steve wasn’t even looking, but if he was, he’d go for someone who challenged him.

Deciding to try to lighten the mood a bit, he said: “His trainers didn’t have laces.”

Tony gave a surprised laugh. “Shoelaces? Is that what does it for you? I don’t know whether to feel insulted or relieved.”

“It doesn’t ‘do it’ for me, but it’s a prerequisite.”

Steve knew Tony was vain enough that he wanted to ask the obvious question but due to current circumstances, didn’t.

“The workshop doesn’t do it for me, either,” Steve said. He knew these were uncharted waters and the last thing he wanted was to make Tony more uncomfortable around him, but weirdly enough this topic seemed to be transforming into an inside joke between them. Steve would gladly use his romantic proclivities as a conversation point if it kept things friendly between them.

That had been an opening Tony couldn’t resist, anymore. “Then, pray tell, what does?”

To that, Steve had actually several answers, but he knew it might be too much to be honest about the more physical characteristics that made Tony attractive to him.

“Intelligence, speaking your mind,” he said instead.

Steve wasn’t sure since he kept his eyes mostly on the road, but Tony seemed to sit up straighter.

“That’s very general,” Tony commented.

Steve gave him a knowing look. “You really wanna hear?”

“You wouldn’t? It’s pretty rare to hear someone you know and actually respect to give you that kind of feedback.”

“Come on, you must get tons of compliments. And I’m sure if the public’s opinion isn’t good enough for you, you can ask Clint to name the rest of the people who chose you.”

A silence. “I didn’t ask but he told me, already. Gleefully. Turns out you were the only one,” Tony said. He shrugged, “Not even Pepper showed me any loyalty.”

Alright, Steve thought. It seemed unlikely to him that a billionaire superhero with people lining up to get even a second of his attention would be in need of flattery, but. Who knew, maybe Tony was feeling self-conscious after he and Pepper had separated. He hadn’t seen anybody else since, as far as Steve was aware.

He cleared his throat. “In no particular order: the definition in your arms, how confidently you carry yourself, your mouth, your humor – and that what you’re sitting on.”

Saying that lead to a slight blush rise to Steve’s cheeks but opted to ignore it. 

“Cap,” Tony said, surprised, and possibly honestly a little scandalized.

“Want me to shut up, already?” Steve asked.

“What, there’s more?”

Steve shrugged, kept his sight decidedly on the road. “I’m a visual guy.”

Too nonchalantly to be real, Tony said: “Let’s hear it, then.”

And alright, Steve hadn’t lied when he’d said this wasn’t a big deal to him. He wasn’t in love with Tony. He wasn’t. It’s just that there wasn’t really anybody else in his life that he found interesting the way he found Tony interesting. Tony had been the first person to really push his buttons this new century, the first who really got under his skin and one of the first people that he’d forged a real human connection with. Of course, on top of it all, Steve really liked how Tony looked.

It felt dangerous, but well, Steve rationalized, Tony had very explicitly asked for him to elaborate. And he wasn’t, weirdly enough, embarrassed. 

He didn’t have to think long about where to start.

“I like how soft your hair looks, how you haven’t colored in the few silver strands. It makes you look distinguished – alleviating the impact of your ridiculous beard for all that it’s impeccably maintained.”

Tony kept silent even though Steve would have thought him to protest the jibe at his facial hair.

He continued: “You aren’t very tall, but perfectly proportioned all the same. There’s power in your upper body, you can see it from your neck even if you are wearing a full suit disguising the definition you have in your arms, chest and stomach.”

Steve swallowed, licked his lips. “There’s power also in your lower body. Your thighs are supple and the way the fabric of your suit pants stretches around them in movement stops me in my tracks sometimes. Not to speak of the way the curve of your ass makes me want to pause time so I could get a better look than just a furtive glance before I snap my eyes quickly to more appropriate subjects.”

The air was thick enough with tension to cut with a knife but Steve soldiered on. “You are richer than I can understand, but your body isn’t pampered or artificial. It’s molded by real work. It has a carnality about it of which the thought would keep me up at night if I let it.”

“Your face is handsome, Tony. The masculine lines of it betray something more precious: how expressive your mouth is, how enticing the color of your lips. You don’t need a lot of imagination to be caught in thoughts of kissing them.” 

He heard warning bells distantly in his mind but felt he had to say this one more thing. “You are stuck up about how smart you are, but my God if the intelligence shining from your eyes isn’t magnetic. It makes me want to just look at you. Have you look at me. Being with you, whether next to you or opposite you, it fires me up.”

Steve did have more to say, but a road sign signaling they were nearing the city brought him back to reality. 

Okay. Jesus. What was wrong with him?

He cleared his throat. Didn’t look at Tony. “So. You said something about burgers?”

The stop at a burger joint couldn’t have been more excruciating for Steve. It seemed absurd that waxing poetic about Tony had seemed like a reasonable idea to him. Not a big deal. Tony had asked for it, what could go wrong. He knew it wasn’t just his uncharacteristically bad judgment, he had wanted to tell Tony. If for nothing else then for having someone to know he could feel like this, that he wasn’t just orders, training and fighting.

Tony hadn’t said much else than directed them to the diner. Sitting at the booth with their orders, Steve concentrated on eating to have an excuse not to say anything. Tony chewed his food slower, looking deep in thought.

Back at the tower, in the garage, Steve felt like it was the last moment to say something to save the situation, but he figured that opening his mouth had led him to this in the first place. Shutting it probably was the best way forward. So he merely said goodbye and retired to his own rooms.

Maybe things would return back to normal after a while. 

In a few months or so.

It took a few days until the next time he really saw Tony. Steve had seen him passing by more than once and had greeted him in the most normal manner he could, fully aware that it wasn’t suitable for a team leader to hide from your teammates.

But now Tony had asked Steve to the workshop.

Steve couldn’t really fathom why: they hadn’t been on a mission since the kidnapping so it was unlikely Avengers-related.

Swallowing his apprehension he got into the glass-walled room. 

Tony wasn’t working on anything – other than a glass of whiskey.

“You wanted to see me?”

Tony nodded. He was standing, leaning slightly against his work table. He had the whiskey glass in his hand but it didn’t look like he was even that aware of it.

Steve waited.

Finally, “I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

Steve cringed. Tony noticed: how could he not when he was staring at him?

“Did you mean it?”

Steve supposed he could say no and have this be it. Backing down from his words didn’t sit well with him, though, and he supposed they both knew how unlikely it was Steve had made it all up in the heat of the moment to what? Crack a joke? Had that been the case it was painfully obvious he didn’t have a career in comedy.

“I meant it. Yes.”

Tony was an expressive guy, generally speaking, but now Steve couldn’t have interpreted his feelings any more he could have interpreted those of a stone wall.

“Are you –” at this, Tony stumbled, “I don’t know, in love with me or something?”

“No,” Steve answered, easily enough. That was what he had told himself, anyway. Tony was just one more in his line of unattainable crushes: growing up chronically ill, mouthy, and being more often interested in men than women meant he was great at not letting his feeling develop.

He hoped it was the right answer, the whole situation being more or less like a hellish job interview: not only did you not know what they wanted to hear, you weren’t even sure what it was that you were applying for.

“So, I have this problem,” Tony finally said. “See, I’ve had countless of what you might call relationships, entanglements, one-night stands, whatever. Most of them not very memorable and not only because chances are that I was drunk, but there were some people who meant something. Then I thought I’d met the love of my life but she couldn’t completely accept the life I lead and turns out when push came to shove, I chose the superhero gig instead of her.”

“Thing is, I thought I knew if not everything, then at least most everything there is to know about love and attraction, the things adults do to not feel so lonely.”

Tony gazed around the room, finding the glass forgotten in his hand to fixate on. “I was... content. Content that whether I ever found anyone again, whether me and Pepper might get back together again someday or whether this was it for me, I had had my share. Right? But then this man – I’m talking about you, by the way,” Tony said the last bit like an accusation even if he didn’t raise his eyes to meet Steve’s.

“By saying something off the top of his head, apparently, tore that certainty, that feeling of contentment, to fucking pieces.”

Tony finished by downing the contents of the glass. It had been half full.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

Tony smiled but without any mirth behind it. “Nobody’s ever said anything like that to me. Not even close.”

If Steve had needed any proof it had been a bit too much, here he had it. He had let his mouth run and made this whole thing a hell of a lot more serious it had any right to be taking into consideration it began with Clint having an immaturely high competitive streak.

“And I get that not everyone gives elaborate speeches as their side job,” Tony went on to explain, “but I... I’m 45, for God’s sake, and you’ve made me question if anyone’s ever really wanted me, if anyone else has watched me that closely and decided that they wanted it.” Tony grimaced. “I don’t know how to put it in a less self-centered way, but well. It is self-centered.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said. “I always have the wrong timing with these things, the wrong place, the wrong person. I genuinely hope this doesn’t come between us.”

Tony shifted in his place, something obviously in his mind. Steve was glad to see he wasn’t so closed off anymore. Steve let Tony gather his bearings in peace and went to get the bottle from where Tony had left in next to a sink in the little workshop kitchenette. He’d normally have asked permission before pouring himself a glass but thought it best to stay silent to give Tony room.

He’d gotten his second sip down when Tony found his courage. “Is it the wrong person?”

Steve frowned. “Well, if for nothing else then for the fact that you don’t like men.”

Tony cleared his throat. “That might have been a slight mischaracterization on my part.”

“Okay. You didn’t have to lie about it, I wasn’t going to do anything,” Steve said, confused.

“It wasn’t that. It’s more that it’s not a big part of my sexuality. And it’s not a part that I’ve ever given a try,” Tony said. 

Steve wondered if by future’s standards that meant Tony was _in the closet_ but to him Tony not having been with men if he mainly liked women was understandable. He’d himself wished a few times it wasn’t men who most often caught his eye. After waking up in the future and having seen how the law and societal acceptance had changed and realizing he had very little to lose anymore, he’d decided to stop actively hiding that side of him. But he definitely had been hiding it, before.

“Were you ever tempted?” Steve asked, genuinely curious. Even if it made sense to him in a way, Tony wasn’t the type to give much thought to expectations and social norms.

Tony shrugged. “Very rarely. Men in my business, not really the sort of people you want to put yourself in a vulnerable position with. I mean, I’m sure I’ve probably made out with a guy in some party somewhere, but that’s probably true to most men, straight or not.”

Steve wouldn’t bet on that but what did he know? It wasn’t important anyway, not when Tony’s revelation had other implications.

“Are you saying something here?” Steve went straight to the point.

“I guess I have a proposition.”

Steve waited.

“You’ve made me kind of curious about what it’d be like. With someone like you. And if I’ve understood correctly, you are interested in me but not necessarily interested in something serious. So, what I was wondering was, if you wanted to make a night out of it sometime? We could go somewhere else if you wanted.”

Steve crossed his arms on his chest. It sounded very interesting, but – 

“If you just want somebody to fawn over you – “

“No – “ Tony hurried to say. “Steve,” he sighed. “If I’ve ever been tempted by someone, it’s by you. And not just because of what you said, but because believe it or not, I like you. I do find you attractive, too.” Dryly, he added: “And let’s say I have noticed the at times explosive chemistry we have.”

“Alright,” Steve agreed. “It sounds nice.”

“Okay,” Tony said, carefully, as if surprised Steve acquiesced so quickly. “Just to be clear, this,” Tony said and gestured between the two of them, “might be new to me, but I didn’t mean I want someone to indulge some sort of experimentation on my part or, I don’t know, guide me through the homosexual experience.”

That made Steve laugh. “That’s good since I’d be a useless guide.”

Tony tilted his head, confused. “You mean – ?”

“Never done any of it with a man,” Steve revealed, a lot more amused by the confession of his inexperience than he’d have thought possible. “Or a woman.”

“Any of it?”

“Well,” Steve said grinning, “I once kissed a woman. Mouths closed.”

Tony was confounded. “But all the things you said? Where the hell did you learn to speak like that?”

Steve shrugged. “I just told the truth.”

Tony’s whole demeanor changed at that, now really looking at Steve, staring him with an intensity and honest-to-god desire in his eyes. “Won’t you come here?” He beckoned.

With a low burn starting to simmer under his skin, Steve walked to where Tony was, stopped less than a foot away from him. Tony had straightened up from his slump against the table but Steve still towered over him. Answering Tony’s stare, Steve was pretty sure they were going to kiss. He let his gaze drop to Tony’s lips.

He was already half-way there when he felt Tony’s hand curl around the back of his head to guide him down. 

Steve hadn’t been strictly truthful when he’d said he’d only kissed one woman before since he’d been kissed a couple of times by surprise, but the point still stood: he had no practical experience to speak of. He remembered Bucky tell him to just take it easy and enjoy it if he ever found someone, so that’s what he tried to do. He took his cues from Tony, relaxed his mouth and let his instincts guide him. He knew it was probably nothing too thrilling for Tony, but to feel Tony’s mouth against his own, to know how Tony’s lips tasted, to breathe the same breath – it went to his head, the heady feeling electrifying his whole body.

He stepped closer and pushed his body against Tony’s. Tony made a pleased sound and deepened the kiss. Their bodies pressed together really switched something on and for the next minute, Steve found himself drowning in the act, in the intimacy, in Tony.

Steve was pulled back to reality when Tony’s hands found his ass and pulled their hips tighter together. 

He leaned his head back, trying to break away from the kiss. Tony didn’t really let him but instead followed him. As a last trick, he licked against Steve’s lips, trying to entice him to continue.

Steve had faced some hard decisions in his life, but most of them still seemed to pale next to stopping what they were doing. 

Tony was obviously still disagreeing about that so Steve tried to slow it down gently, landing a few short kisses on Tony’s lips before pressing his lips against Tony’s forehead.

“Why are we stopping?” Tony murmured and – unfairly if you asked Steve – went on to kiss Steve’s neck.

“Not here, Tony,” Steve answered.

“And why not?” A hint of teeth underneath Steve’s ear. “I have a perfectly usable table here.”

When Steve felt Tony’s hands start to really wander again, he glanced at said table to make sure it was mostly empty and took a hold underneath Tony’s butt to lift him up to sit on it.

“Alright,” Tony laughed, surprised, “this works. Slightly undignified, perhaps, but I’m not complaining.”

Hell, Steve thought. He’d mean to make some room between them but now he was standing _between_ Tony’s legs and Tony was looking up to him with one of his roguish smiles. And there were the hands again, grabbing Steve, pulling him closer.

He pushed Tony to lie down, and due to Tony’s insistence, went down with him. He supported himself above Tony with his arms, their faces only a couple of inches apart.

“We gotta slow down,” Steve said.

“Then why are you on top of me?” Tony asked smugly.

“Because I can’t stop touching you,” Steve confessed, and to run his point home dropped a kiss on Tony’s cheek.

“Because I’m afraid the second we leave here there’s a mission or something. And I’d be far too wired up to concentrate and I’ll die an embarrassing death.”

“We can’t have that,” Tony laughed.

“At least my final thoughts are going to be about something beautiful,” Steve said distractedly.

Tony surged up and kissed him at that and that hadn’t been Steve’s goal but maybe, for just a few more seconds – 

Having given himself permission to continue for a little while longer Steve put the thought of slowing down on hold and took everything Tony gave and then some. When Tony lifted his hips up to press against Steve but fell short a couple of crucial inches, Steve helped him the rest of the way by getting his right hand across Tony’s ass and pulling their lower bodies together.

“God,” Tony gasped. Steve had the strength to keep the hold he had, but Tony saw to make it slightly easier by curling his legs around Steve. 

Suddenly, Tony laughed into their kiss. Steve broke it off and nuzzled against Tony’s face and made an inquiring sound.

“I just thought,” Tony said against his jaw, his shoulders and head being the only point of contact with the table, “Is this what they mean by saying ‘climbing someone like a tree’?”

Steve chuckled even though he wasn’t really familiar with the phrase. The lull in the action brought him back to his senses.

“We do need to stop.”

“I’ve yet to hear a reason,” Tony pointed out.

“Tony, your walls are glass,” Steve said.

Tony groaned. “That’s true, but let’s be real here, someone could have come down anytime the last fifteen minutes and turned around and left with no doubt what’s going on in here.”

“At least we’re clothed,” Steve argued. “And maybe they’d think we’re fighting.”

Tony tightened the grip of his legs around Steve. “You are a master martial artist, I’m sure nobody thinks your main strategy would be to use your tongue to subdue me.”

Before Steve had a retort ready, Tony continued: “Having said that, if I ever go down the mad scientist route and you do have to subdue me, please use your tongue.”

Steve choked on a laugh, and because it really just was there, he squeezed Tony’s ass.

Tony raised his eyebrow at the gesture.

“Just as perfect as I thought,” Steve explained.

“Rogers, you are a menace.”

Almost against Tony’s lips, Steve said: “But you like it.”

“I’ll even go as far as to say I love it if you’ll stay there for another moment,” Tony said.

How could someone deny that? Steve sure as hell couldn’t, so he once again kissed Tony. Whether it was his serum-enhanced ability to learn physical talents fast or just the inspiration Tony provided, he found he was really getting the knack of it. Tony seemed to agree if his bit off moans were any indication.

Steve knew he would not want to get caught with his pants down and there was the thought in his mind that maybe once was enough for Tony – he’d specifically asked for a night – so he wondered if it wasn’t better to try to make the plans Tony had mentioned: go somewhere else, together. Assuming this was a one-off Steve wanted to make the best of it.

On the other hand, he was so turned on – and God he could feel how turned on Tony was – that waiting seemed like cruelty. He’d certainly waited too long before, maybe the only correct choice was to seize the moment.

Undecided but leaning towards the more urgent need he had, he used the grip he still had on Tony’s behind to grind their hips together. 

“Oh, hell,” Tony groaned, breaking off the kiss. 

They looked at each other in the eye as Steve, with Tony’s cooperation, repeated the motion. Then they were kissing again. Steve felt Tony’s hands start to hurriedly unbutton Steve’s shirt. That was fine, he decided. He re-draw the line at full nudity in the privacy-less room.

Getting the shirt off was difficult with their position so Steve laid Tony gently on the table and straightened up to strip it off himself.

“You too,” Steve said. He could have helped Tony, but to watch Tony sit up and in a slow manner peel off his sweater held its own merit.

Tony had removed the arc reactor some months back so the skin of his chest was smooth. Steve had of course seen the reactor a lot of times since Tony used to cut his shirts to fit it. There had been one time he’d seen Tony shirtless with the arc reactor.

It had been something, Steve had thought. A man with an energy reactor embedded in his chest to prevent shrapnel from his own bomb entering his heart, glowing in clear white-blue, a light in the dark. Steve had thought about the unintentional symbolism a lot, once.

“Is this the part where you say something saccharine about the angle of my clavicles?” Tony asked teasingly.

“Not of your clavicles,” Steve answered. “But I did have a thought or two about your nipples,” he said, half-jokingly but really not at all.

“My nipples?” Tony repeated. “Out of the two of us, you’re the one with pecs gods envy. And speaking of which,” Tony said and leaned forward, took purchase of Steve’s waist and slowly licked across Steve’s left pectoral and then closed his lips around the nipple.

“Oh,” Steve gasped, involuntarily. 

“Hmm?” Tony inquired and with a gentle bite moved his attention to the other side.

“That’s – that feels really good,” Steve explained and for a wild second had the thought that was it possible to come from this alone? It would solve the problem of nudity, at least, to come in his pants, he thought a bit manically.

“Noted,” Tony murmured, mouth mostly occupied. His hands were once again making their own path across Steve’s body, touching him with familiarity already.

Steve closed his eyes and let his head fall back. If you could save a moment, to live in it as long as you wanted, this definitely qualified as a candidate. He knew there was more to come – hopefully – knew this was in sexual terms relatively tame. It didn’t matter. What mattered was the exhilaration of getting to know one another like this, getting to know Tony with his eyes dripping with warmth, surprise and joy: getting to know himself like this.

He pulled Tony up, pulled him so he was in his arms, now skin against skin. Their eyes met and no words were needed. Steve didn’t think he would ever get tired of the intimacy of kissing. Tony devouring his mouth held an impulse like trying to merge their souls together.

Not sure if it was him or Tony who initiated the change of position, Steve found himself getting on the floor. Knowing the cement floor wasn’t comfortable, he went on to lie on it and had Tony lower himself on top of him. 

It soon became more than heated and the level of urgency led Tony to sit up and straddling Steve’s thighs he placed his hands on Steve’s belt.

Tony gave him a questioning look. Steve nodded. 

In contrast with the hurry they both must have felt, Tony took his time. He watched attentively every time Steve’s chest rose with his breaths, every inch of skin that was revealed as he pulled the zipper down.

Steve lifted his hips when Tony finally got to pulling the pants down and off, together with the rest of his clothes. He was aware that lying naked on the cold, hard floor of the workshop had not been on his agenda, but that was a distant thought when Tony was staring at him with heavy-lidded eyes.

“Take them off,” he said when Tony seemed to hesitate with his own pants.

With those Tony didn’t dawdle – a blessing, since Steve wasn’t sure how long he’s patience would have lasted.

Then they were on the ground together again, Tony lying between Steve’s legs. Steve had an eidetic memory, but the sight of Tony lowering his naked body on top of Steve would have stayed clearly with him until his grave in any case.

The friction even without the clothes wasn’t quite enough so Tony made a little bit of room between them and put his hand around Steve’s cock.

He was uncomfortable with his ass freezing against the floor but none of that even registered at that moment. Few strokes in and he was as close as anything, so he pulled Tony to kiss him.

Gasping into Tony’s mouth, he came.

Basking in the afterglow wasn’t an option when Tony was still urgently in need, rubbing hotly against Steve’s thigh. Tony had all his weight on Steve now so it was difficult for him to get his hand on Tony. Instead, Steve made the executive decision to maneuver them into a new position, on their sides, him behind Tony.

It was far easier now to just circle his arm around Tony, take a soft but firm grip on Tony’s cock. Tony fit against him just perfectly. They were snugly pressed together from knees to shoulders, Tony’s head resting on Steve’s arm.

Steve didn’t know how exactly Tony liked it, but Tony wasn’t shy about his pleasure whenever Steve stroked him just right, his hand grasping against Steve’s thigh in tandem with his groans and sighs.

“Is this enough?” Steve asked, his voice low. 

“Ye-yeah,” Tony breathed, “just a little – ah, _ah_ … tell me?”

Steve racked his brain for a few seconds. Then: “I didn’t know you would feel like this against me; it almost takes me apart again.”

“The way you look, Tony,” he continued, “the way you smell, it makes my blood hot, short-circuits my brain.”

He lowered his head to Tony’s ear and murmured: “I could do this for all eternity.”

Tony strained his head around to press their faces together as he came. Steve stroked him gently through it. 

It took a couple of minutes until the floor started to really become unbearable. 

Tony sat up first. “So, that happened,” he said. 

Steve stood up and went to the sink. He had both of their come on his skin. “It’s what you wanted?” Steve asked as he wet a couple of paper towels and started to wipe himself clean.

“Yeah, yeah. Full marks, Rogers. Your first time. I’m impressed,” Tony said. Steve glanced at him only to notice that Tony, still sitting on the ground, had his arms crossed across his chest almost in a protective manner and he was seemingly avoiding looking at Steve.

Bashfulness? At this point? Steve took the packet of paper towels and brought it to Tony. He crouched down in front of the man so he had to look at Steve.

“Everything okay?” Steve asked.

“Perfect,” Tony answered.

Knowing he was really pushing his luck with the nudity, Steve collected his clothes and started to dress. Tony was following his example, though a bit slower, something obviously still on his mind.

Steve kinda wanted to kiss him one more time, but he wasn’t sure if it would have been welcome.

“So. See you around,” he remarked, finally. Tony said his own goodbyes before turning to look something from a screen. Steve left.

Steve didn’t see Tony for some days after that. It was fine. It could have easily been just part of their normal rhythm: Tony often disappeared for a few days if there was no avenging to make. Hell, all of them did. Even if the tower was their base of operations and they had apartments there, most had lives outside, too. Clint was often away long periods of time as was Thor. Bruce was usually around but forgetting himself in his work. Steve and Natasha were probably most likely to be sharing a dinner, both of them having stopped working directly under SHIELD.

Yet, after what had happened, Steve would have expected something to have changed. He knew Tony must be busy, but to have him show his face even once – that would have been nice. He understood it probably meant a bit more to him that it did to Tony since it had been his first and only time to do anything like it, but was it too much to want some sort of – acknowledgment?

And, sure, it was probably his inexperience talking, again, but… it _had_ been pretty good. Was it normal that people just ignored one another after sharing something that intimate and that intense? That sexy? Hell, Steve still got a bit hot under the collar every time he thought about Tony’s grip on his thigh as he was coming, how perfect the arch of Tony’s buttocks had felt against him, how good his hair had smelled. 

Alright, maybe he was obsessing a bit. Maybe this was the reason Tony wasn’t around: had he guessed that Steve would get too hung up about it? He sighed. Perhaps the best way forward was to really forget about it. He’d not say a word of it or allude to it anyway unless Tony initiated it. He could do that.

His vow to himself lasted about two days – the amount of time it took until he saw Tony again. In his defense, Tony kinda initiated it.

They had a meeting with most of the team, Fury updating the latest from Hydra and giving them the heads up about a potential mission in Central Europe. All went well except that Tony hadn’t looked at him once during the whole time.

Had it only been his personal feelings, he probably would have let it go, but this was about the team, too. They couldn’t avoid each other and be effective in the field at the same time.

When Fury cut his connection to mark the end of the meeting and they started to roll out of the room, Steve asked Tony to stay behind.

Based on how rigid Tony went for a second, Steve deduced it wasn’t a welcome proposition.

He stayed, though, so that was something.

“What’s up, Cap?” Tony said, with a perfectly relaxed air, finally answering Steve’s gaze. 

It was normal enough that Steve had a short moment of doubt whether he had imagined the whole avoidance thing. He decided to tread carefully.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go through some specs Fury sent me together?” He lied, except that he had meant to show the blueprints of Hydra artillery to Tony anyway.

Tony blinked. “Oh. Yeah, sure. Or you can just send them to me and I’ll brief you later,” he suggested.

Steve frowned. “If you’re very busy, fine, but it wouldn’t take long and it’s easier in person.”

“What do you know, I am kinda busy,” Tony retorted, starting to get up. “Aren’t I, Jarvis?”

“Actually, sir, your calendar seems to be – “

“Shush, you traitor,” Tony ordered, exasperated.

Steve figured you didn’t have to be a genius to deduct that Tony truly was avoiding him. Alright.

“Tony, is everything okay?”

“Perfect,” Tony answered and Steve remembered they’d had the same conversation immediately after the sex.

“It doesn’t seem like it,” he ventured. Tony looked annoyed.

“Why wouldn’t everything be okay?” Tony asked him, daring him to bring it up.

Steve dared. “You might feel off-balance after we – “

“After we what? It was just handjobs, big deal,” Tony said.

Steve cringed.

“What?” Tony asked, defensive.

“It wasn’t just – _handjobs_ ,” Steve started, but again, Tony cut him off.

“Then what would you call it?” 

Steve crossed his arms. He wasn’t going to say they’d made love because he wasn’t too keen on getting laughed at, but he knew it wasn’t just anything: they’d kissed until their mouths were tender, they’d laughed together, touching each other all over. The final stretch to chase satisfaction had been the least important part of it all.

“We took care of each other,” Steve said. “We shared our bodies, our wants. I know what the skin on the back of your neck tastes like and I’ve had your laughter reverberate inside my mouth. Frankly speaking, you giving me a hand, while nice, is not what I repeat inside my head about that day when I go to sleep.”

Tony looked like a deer caught in the headlights, as the saying went. Steve was mildly embarrassed, but he disliked demeaning and distorting the truth. It didn’t have to mean anything overtly romantic, but how Steve saw it, they had shared something special, something good, and the very least they should have let it strengthen their friendship.

Steve sighed again. “I won’t mention it again if you don’t want to, that’s not a problem. But I really wish you wouldn’t avoid me because of it.”

“I’m not avoiding you,” Tony tried.

Steve just gave him a skeptical look.

Tony gave up and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. The specs? Meet me in the workshop in an hour, that good enough for you?”

Steve nodded, satisfied. “Yes.”

It was a testament to his army trained poker face that he kept his features completely neutral when Jarvis projected the anti-aircraft artillery blueprints above the table in Tony’s workshop. _The_ table.

“So, as far as SHIELD is aware, these are the only aerial defenses the Hydra base in southern Ukraine has. They suspect they also have radar systems that aren’t fooled by the Quinjet’s cloaking system,” Steve explained.

Tony was completely immersed in the projection in seconds. “Yeah, we’re not flying in. See here? That’s a goddamn laser.”

“Does it work?” Steve asked.

“Well,” Tony shrugged. “Building these would be expensive as heck. On paper – sure. They’d fry us if we got close enough. But do they actually work? That’s a guess I’m not going to make.”

“Can you get past them?” Steve asked, meaning the Iron Man.

“I can’t outfly a laser beam, it’s light. I suppose I could reflect or intercept it? I’d have to think about that,” Tony said.

“How long is the range?”

“Jarvis, help me here,” Tony mumbled, as he disassembled the holographic laser weapon. 

Steve followed curiously Tony scrutinizing the blueprint this way and that. He obviously didn’t understand enough to get what Tony saw in it, but watching him work could be entertaining.

“Based on the measurements I’d say its reach is about a mile, not more. And that’s assuming it’s not cloudy.”

“What do you mean?”

Tony turned to look at him, bemusedly. “You need clear skies for these. Fog, clouds, smoke – the beam doesn’t pass those.”

Steve took that in. “So. Could we just wait for bad weather?”

Tony blinked. Looked at the specs and back to Steve again. “Well. Yes, basically. Of course, there’s not going to be clouds below a certain altitude, so getting close enough would still be a problem.”

Steve sat down on the table. “Could we conceal the jet with a smokescreen? If we drop it from high enough?”

“Too imprecise, we’ll have to cut their visibility as close as possible. But a small drone, maybe on the ground. Small enough it’s hidden by the terrain.”

Steve smiled. “Can you do it?”

Tony scoffed. “Can _I_ do it? Build a drone that emits smoke?” Tony was playing up the affront, but it was nice, Steve thought, to have the banter back.

“I’m taking that as a yes.”

“I don’t know what you’d do without me,” Tony said then, still playful.

“Crawl, I suppose,” Steve noted, with a dry tone.

Tony chuckled. “You probably would.”

“One gets used to that in the army,” Steve said.

“Don’t tell me, during the war you made it across Europe on your hands and knees,” Tony remarked.

To that, Steve raised his eyebrows. Tony heard what he’d said and, if Steve wasn’t mistaken, got a bit flustered.

Then, because he couldn’t help himself: “You know perfectly well I did none of that. Until recently.”

Tony choked on a laugh, surprised. “I _do_ know, don’t I?” Then he seemed to think it over in his head. “Deflowering Captain America – who’d have guessed? Jeez, if my dad was alive…”

Steve wasn’t particularly fond of Tony’s choice of words, but he let it pass, glad Tony found it funny.

Steve found it kinda funny, too. Among other things. Also, he had noticed Tony alluding to his father. Steve had gotten the impression that Tony was troubled about his father, but looked up to him all the same. Loved him, all the same. He’d have gladly told Tony some of his stories about Howard when he was young, from a time nobody else alive remembered, had he ever felt like Tony was receptive to that sort of thing.

“You know,” he started, feeling daring, “speaking of your father, you’re only the second Stark to fondle my chest.”

Tony’s look was a mix of horror and glee Steve found weirdly fetching. “He did _not_.”

Steve shrugged. “Measurements, he insisted. But I kinda wondered about the hands-on approach.”

“You’re joking,” Tony said. Pleaded. 

Steve gave it a second before giving in. “A bit, yeah. I mean, he didn’t generally care for what was appropriate so it’s not like he kept it very professional, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean anything by it.”

Tony seemed relieved. He looked away before asking: “So you don’t think he ever – liked men?”

Steve considered that. That wasn’t the impression he’d gotten, but on the other hand, they hadn’t spent that much time together. The interest he’d shown for Steve’s body had seemed mostly scientific, but of course, that wasn’t much to go by.

“I can’t honestly say,” Steve said. “I never witnessed anything and he was known for chasing ladies. But he did keep a very mixed company, you know. Throwing parties for artists and the like, musicians, actors and actresses. I’m sure he was open-minded about it, even if it wasn’t something he was into.”

Tony nodded to himself. “Yeah, we never talked about it, but it wouldn’t have been like him to bother himself with people’s romantic interests. It was about what you could do, not who you wanted to do.”

“That sounds about right,” Steve agreed.

They both fell silent. There was still something unfinished about their conversation, the reference to what happened before hanging still in the air between them.

“Well,” Steve finally said. “Keep me updated about the smoke drones, I’ll prepare the rest of it with Nat.”

“Roger that.”

That seemed to have cleared the air between them, Steve was glad to note. He saw more of Tony around the Tower and they had easy conversations. On top of that, the mission to the Ukrainian Hydra base was executed to perfection. No injuries, no casualties, no damaged property or gear, and the smokescreen worked beautifully, disabling the three laser cannons defending the lab and barracks built under old ruins so they could just barge in. 

It left the team in high enough spirits that they convened in the evening to share a few drinks together.

Thor had his Asgardian concoction with him and Steve graciously accepted a shot of it in his beer. He’d decided that was his limit, though, remembering still too well the last time and trying to melt into the balcony floor.

A small buzz to relax but not so much his inhibitions would lower. Those he felt he needed too much now, with Tony having sat down next to him on the couch, his knee brushing Steve’s every other minute and his arm resting on the back of the couch, his fingers just some few inches from Steve’s neck if he happened to lean back.

It was casual enough that it might have been innocuous, but from Steve’s point of view, it was nothing but. Tony never sat next to him or got really close to him unless he was mad. Then he was all hands.

But now? It meant something. Steve only wished he knew if it was an effort to get friendlier or if Tony was coming on to him.

At one point the team was ribbing him, teasing him about his choice of words for some Hydra underlings earlier the day, during the mission.

“I can’t deny it, I love it when Cap goes full righteous mode on them, especially when it comes with an aftertaste of Vibranium in your teeth,” Clint joked.

They had developed mass mind control in the lab. Steve had taken that personally.

“I liked the part where you called them the ‘spineless laboring underneath indifferent masters to bring everybody else down to the same level of degradation’,” Natasha said. “Not that they give two fucks about what you say, but it’s the thought that counts.” She offered her bottle to toast against Steve’s in celebration.

“Steve does have his way with words,” Thor mused. Steve could feel Tony’s gaze on him. Unable to resist, he turned to look at him. It was a kinda mistake since the heat in Tony’s eyes sparked a reaction in his body, a tingling feeling at the back of his neck, low on his stomach.

Alright, he figured as he turned back to his drink. That hadn’t been very platonic, as far as he was able to read the signs.

He waited a few minutes until the discussion turned to something else and he could easily get up with the excuse of getting more drinks and food from the kitchen.

As he’d hoped, he’d barely gotten the beers out of the fridge when Tony appeared. He didn’t say anything, at first, just watched Steve gather the drinks and snacks on a tray.

“You need anything?” Steve finally broke the silence.

Tony walked closer until he was right up to Steve’s personal space. “Not really,” he said.

Steve raised an eyebrow but didn’t move out of the way.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt you,” Tony said, obviously lying to just keep the moment going.

Steve had the impulse to kiss him, but it wasn’t quite clear he could. The last time had been agreed upon, now all bets were off. Also, he’d promised himself no more risks with public displays of affection.

He turned around in the small space between Tony and the counter to finish loading the tray. That left the ball in Tony’s court.

“I’ll help you,” Tony said and proceeded to do the opposite by reaching his arms around Steve and moving some of the stuff around. Steve would have laughed if it hadn’t brought Tony flush against his back.

“I’m not really sure how this is helping me,” Steve pointed out.

“I’m supporting you. Or something,” Tony murmured next to his ear.

Steve took a hold of Tony’s hands to stop him toppling the beer bottles. For a lack of a better place, he guided them to his waist and stomach so that Tony was basically hugging him from behind.

He finished putting the tray in order. He didn’t move away from their embrace. It felt far too good to be held and to be held by Tony at that. 

Tony’s hands moved to stroke his stomach above the clothes. Steve pressed a bit more tightly against Tony and – okay, this was becoming far too hot far too fast. 

“Tony,” he warned. “I have to go back there in a minute and I’d rather not do it sporting an erection.”

Tony’s hands faltered. He groaned. “Do you have to be so sensible?”

With a final caress, Tony stepped back. Steve closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was no way to do this now, but maybe later, he figured. He’d take the beers, stay for an hour or so and then leave, citing his oldness. 

His plan decided he took the tray and returned to the living room with Tony.

Tony had followed him to the kitchen so why not to his room?

Two hours later, sitting on his bed alone, and he was very conscious of how wrong he’d been about that. He’d thought he’d been pretty obvious: he’d joked to the team that he had to go practice his speeches. How else could Tony have interpreted that than as an invite? 

Of course, it was likely Tony had just reconsidered. There were dangers to what they were doing, Steve did understand that. Things had already gotten difficult once because of it. 

Steve would be reasonable this, he decided. He couldn’t expect anything from him. He’d give Tony his space and not make a big deal out of it. 

It wasn’t a big deal.

At all.

Steve flopped down on the bed and hid his face under his arm.

Who the hell was he kidding? It was a big deal for him. He wanted it to mean something, he wanted it to be serious. 

He sighed. He wanted Tony, in a lot more ways than just the one. He wanted to be with Tony.

How to say that to Tony, though, when the man couldn’t apparently make up his mind whether he was up to something straightforward and physical? 

He supposed all he could do was wait.

Waiting didn’t mean he couldn’t try to help things along.

It was three days before the next time Steve saw Tony. Now that he’d admitted his feelings for himself, he had allowed himself to think about Tony a lot more often.

You could even say that he’d been pining.

But he did his best not to let it show so that when Tony appeared in the middle of the breakfast hour to invite the team to a prototype test run on the roof for Sam’s new wings, dress casual, cold drinks served. Steve smiled in the most neutrally way he knew how and accepted the invitation.

Usually, with smaller changes to gear, they’d just test them during regular practice, but sometimes with a bigger development, the team used it as an excuse to come together.

Knowing it was going to be mostly a flight show, Steve didn’t put his gear on. Casual, like Tony had said. 

Didn’t mean he didn’t put a little more thought to what to wear than he had any other time. He had a pair of very well fitted black jeans he had not worn once since an enthusiastic shop clerk had insisted he try and buy them. He paired it with one of his regular Henley shirts to not seem too obviously like he had dressed up and also because of how well the soft gray material highlighted the lines of his upper body.

Steve knew a big part about the thing between him and Tony had to do about their chemistry, about how they never really had been able to ignore one another.

All the same, Steve was well aware what it was about him that most people liked. 

It wasn’t his personality. 

When Steve got to the rooftop, most of the team was already there sans Bruce and Thor: Thor was away and Bruce just typically slow to arrive. Steve joined the group, Tony and Sam fitting the wings and Clint and Nat offering commentary.

Natasha greeted him with a little smile and a question: “New jeans?”

Of course, she noticed, Steve thought dryly. “Not too tight?” He asked, playing it off as if he hadn’t chosen them because of the tightness but instead in spite of it.

Tony had looked up at that and the way he swallowed was a sign that Steve’s sartorial choice hadn’t been in vain.

“Looking good, Cap,” Sam greeted him, grinning. He had a good reason to grin, too, seeing how sleek the new wings looked.

“You, too,” Steve laughed.

Steve knew Sam was at heart as much of an adrenaline junkie as the rest of them and he was aware that Tony’s armor was standing guard at the edge of the landing pad in case Sam needed aerial help but his heart still gave an extra beat when Sam jumped off the building and dived down to gain speed before opening the wings.

“You should tell him to be more careful,” Steve said to Natasha, mostly jokingly. 

She raised her eyebrow. “Me? That’s your job.”

Steve smiled. “You know he doesn’t listen to me about taking risks like that.”

Chuckling, Natasha replied: “You mean he doesn’t take your hypocrisy easily?”

Fair was fair, but: “It’s not hypocrisy when you have superhuman physique.”

And alright, maybe he was doing this on purpose, alluding to his body where he knew Tony could hear them well, standing some feet behind them with Clint, but he didn’t have any other ideas. He was hopeful Natasha didn’t clue in on what he was doing.

She squinted. Uh-oh.

“Your perfectly perky butt hasn’t prevented you from being the record-keeper of near-deaths around here,” she drawled and yeah, she was onto him.

Steve felt his cheeks warm a little bit, mostly from being so transparent. But, he figured, if she was willing to play along, he might as well use the opportunity.

“I didn’t think you’d noticed,” he said.

She snorted. “Hard not to, especially in those jeans. What, did you sew them on?”

“I’m sorry, isn’t your black number painted on?”

Natasha slapped his ass. “Oh, shush. It’s to distract my opponents. Not my fault men are weak.”

“Well,” Steve started. “Maybe I’m taking a page from your book.”

“I think your regular suit fits the bill just fine. And anyway, I think you should stick to truth and justice and righteous speeches. Leave the subterfuge to me.”

“You don’t think I can do it?”

She nudged him with her shoulder. “I just don’t think you need to.”

Later, they had mostly retired inside when the sun had started to set. The wings were a success based on the enthusiasm Sam clapped Tony’s shoulder with when he finally had the patience to land. 

Sam had taken Steve for a short flight as well, testing the carrying capacity with Steve hanging from a one-armed grip.

After a few thrilling laps around the Chrysler building, Sam had dropped Steve off and Steve had joined the rest of the team. Tony had commented under his breath how the wings were now tested for shipping precious cargo.

That had meant something. Right?

Anyway, it was that comment which gave Steve the courage to wait until the living room was vacated by everyone else but Tony.

They shared a not-too-uncomfortable silence for a minute, Tony on the sofa and Steve standing by the mock-fireplace. Or it probably was real, Steve had just never seen it used.

“You know,” he said. “I was waiting for you the last time.”

“Waiting for me?” Tony asked.

Steve cleared his throat. “The last party, what happened in the kitchen? After I went back to my rooms, I waited for you.”

Tony looked surprised, Steve thought. “I guess I missed the invitation.”

“Would you have come had you – received it?”

“Probably,” the other man admitted. “Very likely,” he amended.

Steve was pretty sure Tony would join him now if he asked.

Before he could say anything, though, Tony continued.

“But I know I shouldn’t.”

Steve waited. “Why not?”

Tony stood up. He was restless and obviously found it difficult to put into words what he was feeling. 

At last, he sighed, and with a soft voice, like he got sometimes when he abandoned all pretense and bluster, he said: “I don’t know if I’m finally gotten too old for it, but I can’t do casual anymore. Or at least, I can’t do casual with you. I thought it’d be interesting to see what it would be like, but it just made me want something different. Made me want something more.”

Steve could feel his heart beating faster – he took a step forward. “Tony –” 

“No, no, I get it. I know it’s not going to happen and I know it’d be insane, anyway. You and me? It’s like if Lennon and McCartney had been together – and the Beatles broke up due to a lover’s spat, Jesus. Anyway, I can’t be coming out this late in life, the joke of it. And for a man over a decade younger than me, completely inexperienced in love, I’d be setting us both up for miserable failure. So, don’t worry, I know, okay. And maybe I told you more than I should, but you know, I thought it needed an explanation if I turned you down when you look like that.”

Steve was, uncharacteristically, lost for words.

Tony interpreted the silence the wrong way, as an affirmation to what he thought. He sighed again. Then, with a slight touch of teasing humor: “Was it for me? The jeans?”

Steve nodded.

“Well,” Tony said. “Rest assured they’ve been appreciated.”

At least his plan worked, Steve thought. It was just that this, this was completely unexpected, out of the left-field, not how it was supposed to go. Tony’d said he wanted –

“Okay, I think I’m going to retire now, if that’s okay?”

Last chance, Steve realized. The truth, he knew. Alright.

Tony had already turned around so it was made that much easier when Steve didn’t have to see his face.

“I’m in love with you.”

That stopped Tony in his tracks.

He turned back around. “What?”

He’d said it once, he could say it again. “I’m in love with you.”

Tony searched his face and he must have seen Steve was serious for he closed his eyes and said: “Oh, thank God.”

That wasn’t necessarily the reaction Steve had expected, but he’d take it. Tony was glad, that was a great sign.

Still. “Thank God?”

Tony grinned. “Yeah, I was going mad thinking if the sex we had was you having some passing interest, what would it be like to be someone you loved.”

Steve couldn’t pass the opportunity. “So, it wasn’t just hand jobs?”

“Of course it wasn’t,” Tony scoffed. Then, more soberly: “It was probably the best I’ve had.”

Oh. _Oh_. It was a battle to choose whether to say something sappy or something teasing. The latter won, in the end.

“Well, it definitely was the best I’ve had,” he grinned.

Snorting, Tony took a few steps closer so they were face to face. “I’m sure we can try to top it.”

“Yeah?” Steve put his hand on Tony’s hips. “So what you just said about the Beatles and all that, the age difference and being too old to come out, you didn’t mean that?”

“That? That was said based on a completely wrong data set. I thought I was saving myself a heartbreak when you’d have inevitably called it quits after a few times. Not that it couldn’t still crash and burn, of course. Taking into consideration it’s us, it actually probably will. Maybe this is a mistake,” Tony said, though he didn’t seem too concerned.

“I’m sure it’s better to love and be loved, even for a short while,” Steve said. 

“I mean,” he continued, realizing Tony hadn’t actually said it back. “If you feel like that, too.”

Face open, eyes shining with mirth Tony pulled Steve down for a kiss.

“What do you know, I kinda do,” he said against Steve’s lips.

Tony had been ready for a repeat performance in the communal living room but this time Steve had finally put his foot down and lead them to his bedroom. 

He’d had ulterior plans anyway, hoping the convenience of being already unclothed and in a bed would result in Tony staying the night.

It had. They had fallen asleep tangled together in each other’s arms. They had separated mostly to their own sides during the night, Steve noticed when he woke up first.

Looking at Tony now, out for the count on his stomach, the sheet covering him only up to his hips, Steve wondered how was he supposed to continue like before when he knew what was waiting for him, hopefully, at the end of the day.

As if knowing he was the object of Steve’s thoughts, Tony opened his eyes. “You’re staring,” he said, voice still rough from sleep.

“True.”

“For any particular reason?”

Steve shrugged. “I just realized how I’m going to be thinking about this, all the time. About you in my bed, what we did last night, what you whispered in my ear at the end.”

Tony laughed. “Captain America’s insatiable, who’d have thought?”

Steve pretended to think about it. “I don’t know. I think it’s just you, what you do to me.”

Tony snorted. “Oh, shut up.”

“Make me,” Steve said.

Tony did.


End file.
